A good friend chided me for showing frustration instead of patience with some friends. Actually, the correct term is rebuked, but “chided,” sounds better…
Busy, fast and distracted
Ordinary Life / Pluralistic World / Work and Rest
Last month I sat in a coffee shop in Portsmouth, NH —if you are ever in that lovely coastal city do have coffee at…
Expertise vrs. Wisdom
Discernment / Faith / Ordinary Life
Knowledge isn’t enough I’ve noticed recently that I hear a lot about expertise and being knowledgeable or informed, but I rarely hear anyone talk…
Fifty Years of Ordinary
Family / Maturity and Flourishing / Ordinary Life
While we were away in October for our vacation, I expected to review the milestones of Fifty Years of Marriage. Isn’t that what people…
Faithfulness, Not Results
Maturity and Flourishing / Ordinary Life
“We are called to a selfless stewardship of all callings, cultures, and creation in a manner that is creative, life affirming, and God honoring,”…
Flannery O’Connor: The Patron Saint of Ex-English Major Organic Vegetable Farmers
Community / Creation / Culture / Faith / Ordinary Life / Spirituality / Work and Rest
Seven years ago my wife Hannah and I started an organic vegetable farm in southeastern Minnesota. Like our homesteading ancestors we employed a lot…
Somewhere Near the End
Faith / Family / Ordinary Life / Spirituality
Earlier this summer we had this rather rash idea of taking Denis’ mother to Cinco de Mayo in West St. Paul. We knew she’d…
Stewardship in the Quotidian: The Kingdom in the Bathroom
Community / Discernment / Spirituality
The ethical dilemma of my Monday morning: what should I do about a nasty toilet seat? My local coffee shop only has one bathroom,…
High Five for the work you do
Yesterday two young men showed up to wash our second story windows. They accomplished in an hour what would have taken me all…
Keeping Vigil in the Storm
A few days after Easter It is very windy today. I can hear it whooshing past the house. The sky is bright with sunshine…